DIVISIONS OF THE SINTAN. 



43 



correctly identified in southern China, and it is erroneously represented 

 as " Kohlenkalkstein " in his published maps of northern China. Lorenz* 

 in 1902 and Blackwelder in 1903 independently recognized its Ordovician 

 relation on the basis of few but characteristic fossils. Weller has described 

 our collections.! 



Sinian in general. The development of the Sinian system in Shan- 

 tung, where the Man-t'o red shales, the Kiu-lung group of green shale and 

 varied limestone, and the Tsi-nan dolomitic limestone are distinguishable, 

 is better known to us than the sequence of corresponding strata in any other 

 province. The Man-t'o is present in northwest Chi'-li and Shan-si, and is 

 there followed by peculiar limestones like those of the Kiu-lung. Von 

 Richthofen observed the same characteristic rocks in northern Ho-nan, 

 latitude 34 30'. J The red shale is wanting in the sections we saw on the 

 Yang-tz'i-kiang, but the conglomeratic and oolitic limestones are present. 

 These varied relations led us to apply local names to the divisions which 

 are unlike in different provinces. Their correlative significances are given 

 in the following table: 



The following paragraphs contain a summary of our observations 

 regarding the Sinian in Shan-si and the Ki-sin-ling limestone of the Yang- 

 tzi gorges, Hu-pei. 



In northern Shan-si, about the Wu-t'ai-shan, the Sinian is exposed 

 in characteristic development, with the Man-t'o at the base and the cal- 

 careous strata in great thickness above. The lowest stratum of the Man-t'o 

 is frequently a conglomerate of pebbles of the subjacent rocks, and the 

 materials of the formation are, throughout its thickness, coarser than is 

 commonly the case in Shan-tung. The characteristic yellowish limestones 

 occur, but generally high up and in two or three layers only. The total 

 thickness is 180 to 335 feet, 55 to 100 meters. 



Strata of gray to greenish shale and oolitic as well as conglomeratic 

 limestone, aggregating about 600 feet, 180 meters, succeed the red rocks 

 and correspond to part of the Kiu-lung group. Above these follow massive 



* Beitrage zur Geologic und Paleontologie Shan-tungs, Lorenz, part I. 



t Vol. in of this work. 



J China, vol. n, p. 505. 



For fuller details see vol. i, chapters vi and xii. 



